Audio Control Using Auditory Event Detection

1. A method for processing an audio signal in an audio processing apparatus, the method comprising: receiving the audio signal, the audio signal comprising at least two channels of audio content; dividing the audio signal into at least a subband signal, wherein the subband signal comprises at least one subband sample, wherein the audio signal is divided into the at least a subband signal using an analysis filter bank; deriving a characteristic of the audio signal, wherein the characteristic is a power measure of the audio signal; smoothing the power measure to generate a smoothed power measure of the audio signal, wherein the smoothing is based on a low-pass filter; detecting a location of an auditory event boundary by monitoring the smoothed power measure, wherein an audio portion between consecutive auditory event boundaries constitutes an auditory event, wherein the detecting further includes applying a threshold to the smoothed power measure to detect the location of the auditory event boundary and comparing the smoothed power measure with a second smoothed power measure of the audio signal, and wherein the power measure or a second power measure associated with the second smoothed power measure is based on a difference measure; generating a gain vector based on the location of the auditory event boundary; applying the gain vector to the audio signal to produce modified subband signals; combining the modified subband signals via a synthesis filterbank to produce a modified audio signal; wherein the audio processing apparatus is implemented at least in part with hardware.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic further includes loudness.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic further includes perceived loudness.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic further includes phase.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic further includes a sudden change in signal power.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a computer program for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

7. An audio processing apparatus, the apparatus comprising: an input interface for receiving an audio signal, the audio signal comprising at least two channels of audio content; an analysis filter bank for dividing the audio signal into at least a subband signal, wherein the subband signal comprises at least one subband sample; and a processor that: derives a characteristic of the audio signal, wherein the characteristic is a power measure of the audio signal; smooths the power measure to generate a smoothed power measure of the audio signal, wherein the smoothing is based on a low-pass filter; detects a location of an auditory event boundary by monitoring the smoothed power measure, wherein an audio portion between consecutive auditory event boundaries constitutes an auditory event, wherein the detecting further includes applying a threshold to the smoothed power measure to detect the location of the auditory event boundary and comparing the smoothed power measure with a second smoothed power measure of the audio signal, and wherein the power measure or a second power measure associated with the second smoothed power measure is based on a difference measure; generates a gain vector based on the location of the auditory event boundary; applies the gain vector to the audio signal to produce modified subband signals; and synthesizes the modified subband signals via a synthesis filterbank to produce a modified audio signal; wherein the audio processing apparatus includes at least some hardware.